Chapter 5

May 16th 2043

Everyone still pretty quiet today. At least as far as the party is concerned. Most that are talking are talking about entering orbit tomorrow. I'm terrified of it.

May 17th 2043

We entered orbit today. Everyone's happy about it but I know something bad is going to happen.

People are still upset about the party, but most are concentrating on the upcoming landings, or trying to anyway. Brian and Charlie have been feeling others out and they say there are a few who wouldn't mind going off on their own. The rest of us haven't found anyone, not that Sarah and I have been looking. Neither one of us knows how to bring it up.

May 18th 2043

It happened! Oh GOD! It really happened! The ship ... it's gone. It was just like in my nightmares. I was reading in bed when the collision alarm went off. By the time the captain came on saying to 'abandon ship' I was already buckling myself into my cockpit chair. I did pause long enough to send a message to Lou, Charlie, Brian, Sarah, Liz, and Amy to get out. I was still screaming for them to "Get out!", When my fist shattered the cover for the emergency escape button. Then I flipped the secondary cover and mashed my thumb down over the button.

I was flung up against the restraints as the gravity rotation flung my pod from the ship. Then I screamed as the thrusters kicked in with a roar, sending me up against the restraints harder. I have bruises from where the restraints dug in.

Then the thrusters switched off and everything was silent. I activated the external camera and watched with horror as the ship's back twisted and broke. Fortunately, there were pods already blasting away from the ship and more leaving it but I knew lots of people had just died and more were dying.

I whispered, "Please tell me you got out." not expecting an answer. I was shocked and overjoyed when Lou's voice came over the com.

"We're out My. We're safe. Thanks for the warning. I left seconds after you did."

The others chimed in that they were okay too.

I sighed with relief and then started crying.

Of my friends, Sarah and Liz had been the last to leave since they were higher up but they were catching up to the others. They would be in a group when they landed. Those in between us had initially been upset when Sarah and Liz hit their escape buttons, since doing that caused those below them to eject too. Once they saw the ship though, they were grateful. Unfortunately, there were a couple empty pods. Charlie said they had work and study periods at this time. We all hope they managed to get to a pod.

One nice thing though was that Lou's nurse friend, Rachel had gotten to her escape pod and she'd be with the others when they landed.

She thanked me for the warning and said she owed me. I told her she'd already paid me back by telling Lou about "you know what."

That's when Charlie asked, "Where are you? I'm not finding you. Hit your nav beacon for me."

I did and he said, "Oh shit!"

We all wanted to know what.

"My, you're on a totally different trajectory than us. Shit! You're about to hit atmosphere any minute."

"What?" I cried and flipped my screen from communications to navigation. Charlie was right. I was about to enter the atmosphere. I'd been so caught up with joy seeing my friends alive that I hadn't paid any attention to where I was going.

I guess when I rocketed away from the ship, I was on a direct heading towards the planet. The few seconds it took for Lou and the others to escape sent them in a different direction. They would still land but it would take them longer.

"My, we'll try to catch up with you. Hit your anti-grav thrusters." Brian said.

"I can't. I'm already programmed for traditional re-entry." They'd been programmed that way since I figured out how to do it.

"Traditional? Are you joking?" Liz demanded.

"No. It'll keep my anti-grav thrusters working longer after I land ... and ... I didn't know I'd have anyone re-entering with me. I'm sorry." I felt totally miserable.

"Oh My." She, Lou, and Amy said together.

Amy said, "Look My, we'll plot your course and try to follow you in okay."

I shook my head. "You can't, you'll use up too much fuel."

"I'm tracking her. Plotting her course now." Charlie said to no one in particular. I guess he was just letting us know he was.

"Don't worry about that, My." Brian said. "We'll just land a couple days after you is all."

"Can we do that?" Sarah asked quietly."

"It might not be that easy but we'll try." Charlie said.

"No matter. Just keep yourself safe and we'll find you, okay My?" Amy and Lou said together.

"Do you have her course plotted?" Lou asked.

"I've got a rough plot. You're going to land on or near the East Coast of Washington." Charlie said.

Washington is what they named one of the continents on Columbus.

"You did say you wanted to live near the beach, My." Amy joked.

"Alright!" Brian said cheerfully. "We'll have a luau. You bring the coconuts and we'll bring the beer!"

We couldn't help laughing at that until my pod jolted and I screamed. The reception started to get fuzzy so I quickly said, "Take care of each other. I love you!" and they were gone. I don't know if they received my message or not but I hope they did. I pray they did.

The next few minutes were sheer terror. I screamed so much I lost my voice. I also sweated at least a gallon of water out of my body. I think I lost a couple pounds really but it's not a way to lose weight I'd recommend. Not all of the sweat was from the heat either! And it got pretty warm let me tell you! A lot of it was from fear and yes, I peed my panties too. I was scared, alright? You would be too! It was completely terrifying! I don't know how astronauts and cosmonauts could do it. The heat and the roar are so intense!

By the time the first chute opened, I was thoroughly soaked to the skin and my hair was plastered to me. If it weren't for the straps, I would have smashed my head against the console. My neck still hurts from being whipped around.

Then the first chutes pulled the main ones and I was jolted even harder. From then on, all I had to do was hold on. I did and cried the rest of the way until splashdown. I splashed down in the Olympic Ocean about ten miles off shore.